Hey everybody, I really like the themes and mechanics of all of these games (they are fairly similar) but I don't know which one to pick up, or maybe there are other games that I don't even know about. Opinions from people that already own them?

I have played them all, and prefer Cyclades. Runewars is good, but a bit fiddly, and Kemet is on the dry side. They're all enjoyable, but I have had the most fun with Cyclades. They all scale well, but Cyclades the best.

I have played all three of these games quite a bit, and I'd say that they are very, very different. I would, however, strongly recommend all three.

Cyclades is an auction based game at heart where money management is key. Combat is limited, as it can only be activated by the player who controls Ares, and he is not always available. The Hades expansion provides more methods of commiting violence though, and adds a great deal to the game.

Kemet is almost constant fighting, yet it's still a euro at heart. It uses an action selection system which is kind of like worker placement, and uses cards for combat (unlike Cyclades which uses dice). Both Cyclades and Kemet have a specific victory condition (2x metropolis, or points), but in my mind, that's where the similarities end.

Runewars is an epic 4x game that will take 2-3 times longer to play than the previously mentioned games. It requires you to manage several different things at once: troops and area control, resources, multiple card decks, hero quests, etc. It is significantly more complicated. It is an excellent game, but expect it to take 5+ hours on you first couple plays.

Any other opinion? I was also looking for a game that isn't TOO long, and I think Runewars can drag for some hours... Also must be good with two players, I know that Kemet has different maps for numbers of players but I don't know if the other games are balanced around that too